1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices for making electrical connections to electrical components within electronic door locks. More specifically, the present invention relates to a shaped electrical connector that keys into an electronic door lock and can be configured during manufacture to carry electrical signals to and/or from selected electrical sensors, actuators and/or other components within the lock. By selecting a particularly configured electrical connector key the electrical components available for use within the door lock are also selected.
2. Description of Related Art
Modern electronic door locks may be provided with a wide variety of electronic components, such as sensors, actuators and other electronic components. The components may include actuators, such as motors, solenoids, linear drivers and the like that operate electrically and allow the lock to be remotely locked or unlocked. The electronic door lock will also typically include one or more sensors positioned within the lock to detect and signal the position of various lock components, such as the latchbolt, the deadbolt, the locked or unlocked status of the lock, the position of the door relative to the door frame (door open or closed), and the like. The electronic door lock may also be provided with other kinds of auxiliary electronic components, such as microcontrollers and memory, and the like.
For many electronic door lock designs, the electronic components within the lock are electrically connected to an external unit located outside the lock, such as a door lock control system, a building security system, an emergency fire control system or monitoring system, and the like. The connection from the lock to the external unit is typically made with wires that connect through a wiring harness to the external unit.
When an electronic door lock is ordered, the customer may specify many different configurations, with different actuators and sensors. Each different configuration must be assembled at the factory and must be provided with a matching wiring harness to allow connection of each of the specified components—sensors, actuators, and the like—to the external unit.
The multiple different configurations make it difficult and expensive to retain all the differently configured locks in stock. Often, each different configuration must be assembled individually and a matching wiring harness must be prepared and connected to the internal electronic lock components by hand.
Problems arise in making multiple connections between the electronic door lock components and an external unit. Such problems also encompass the connectors, the wiring harness and the selection of sensors within the lock that are to be made available to the external unit.
The sensors may be contact switches, magnetically operated reed switches, Hall effect sensors and/or other types of sensors. Usually, such sensors are located to signal the position of mechanical components within the lock and/or the door. The sensors may be used to indicate whether the door lock is in the locked or unlocked state. They may indicate if the latchbolt is extended or retracted, or whether the door on which the lock is installed is open or closed. They may monitor the position of a deadbolt, the rotation of a handle or signal whether the lock has performed other functions.
In addition to the sensors, there may be different actuators within the electronic lock. The actuator may be a motor, a linear driver, a solenoid, a solenoid emulator in the form of a stepping motor or stepping motor integrated into a linear actuator, and the like. Again, many different actuators are available for different applications and different customers.
The most common types of actuators are 12 volt or 24 volt solenoids that may be ordered as “fail safe” (if power is lost the door defaults to unlocked) or “fail secure” (defaults to locked). The solenoid designs are typically intended for use with centralized building control systems where the external unit is centrally located and is connected to multiple electronic locks with wires. The external unit sends a simple on or off power signal to lock or unlock each electronic lock by switching it away from its default state when power is applied. When power is removed, the lock returns to its default state.
In the “solenoid” type design actual solenoids may be used, or solenoid emulation may be used in which a motor, linear driver or other actuator responds to the same type of simple “on power” vs. “off power” control signal.
When the electronic lock is a motorized design, it is most commonly used with an external unit mounted on or immediately adjacent to the door. Typical applications for this type of low power motor actuator electronic lock include hotels, secure buildings and the like where a card key reader, secure proximity detector, keypad, biometric (fingerprint, iris scan, voice recognition, and the like) is located in the external unit. The external unit may also include batteries to provide power through wired connections to the electronic lock.
The external unit for this type of lock may be located in one or more additional housings mounted on the door. Wires extend from the sensors in the lock to the external unit to provide information to the external unit about the status of the lock. Wires may also carry control signals from the external unit to actuators in the electronic lock to lock or unlock the door in response to the presentation of security credentials.
There are many other potential electronic door locks that it may be desirable to offer for sale, and each may be provided with a wide variety of available sensors to meet various needs. Wiring for all of these different components actuators and sensors must exit the lock housing, regardless of whether the external unit is mounted in close proximity to the lock, as is common for motorized and battery powered locks, or in a more distant central location as is typical for solenoid locks.
The numerous possible variations in lock configuration results in many different wiring harnesses and typically requires each of the sensors to be manually installed and connected. This is labor intensive and expensive as well as making it difficult to keep the many variations in stock for rapid delivery to customers.
In view of the above, there is a need for an improved wiring harness and connection system that reduces the manual interconnection and wiring required for electronic locks having different sensors and actuators.